Harvest of Death

Episode aired Nov 19, 1972
TV-PG
52m

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

YOUR RATING

Mike Connors and Linda Marsh in Mannix (1967)

Action Crime Drama Mystery Thriller

Two crop-dusting pilots who worked for orange grower Clint Carpenter have vanished without a trace. Joe Mannix is asked by his former military buddy, Dave Winters, who runs the crop-dusting ... Read allTwo crop-dusting pilots who worked for orange grower Clint Carpenter have vanished without a trace. Joe Mannix is asked by his former military buddy, Dave Winters, who runs the crop-dusting service, to help solve the mystery of their disappearance. Mannix returns to the Californi... Read allTwo crop-dusting pilots who worked for orange grower Clint Carpenter have vanished without a trace. Joe Mannix is asked by his former military buddy, Dave Winters, who runs the crop-dusting service, to help solve the mystery of their disappearance. Mannix returns to the California farmland of his youth posing as a new pilot, but soon finds himself in the middle of a f... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

YOUR RATING

5User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos

User reviews5

8.099

Featured reviews

6planktonrules

Very good except for one cliché....and it's a bad one!

While I enjoy "Mannix" and even went so far as to buy all 8 seasons of the show, it does suffer from a few clichés. To some degree I can accept them as they made so many episodes but a few are annoying. The worst is Mannix getting bashed over the head. In the first season, this happened something like 278325 times--and, while not quite as often in subsequent seasons, he STILL got bashed so much that you'd have expected him to have a brain like tapioca!! Another is someone who is Joe's friend. Again and again, friends are introduced...only to be killed only moments later!! Here in an otherwise decent show, "Harvest of Death", Joe meets up with an old friend...and soon assumes room temperature!! This alone is why I cannot score this one any higher than a 6.

As for the show, its plot is actually rather interesting. A rich guy keeps hiring guys to crop dust his fields--and each of these guys disappears! Obviously someone doesn't want the crops touched and is out to ruin the rich guy. So, our indestructible Mannix volunteers to dust the crops...and investigate.

In this show, you get to hear Mannix speak a bit of Armenian. This is in line with his character and in a couple previous shows you heard him speak a bit of the language with his father (Victor Jory). I liked this as it gave depth to the character. Too bad the show is too clichéd to be a great episode.

10tcchelsey

JOE THE CROP DUSTER?

MANNIX, in a way, was similar in concept to the FUGITIVE, only Joe wasn't a wanted man. However, through the series run he basically was on his own, encountering many offbeat characters who drew him into their own unique world -- with dire consequences. While Richard Kimball was dodging the police, Mannix was dodging some desperate folks. You can count on that.

Case in point, Joe takes on a gritty job as a crop duster for friend Paul Mantee, to find out why his pilots have been disappearing. There's also a bit of Mike Connors in the role. His real-life father was a lawyer who defended many poor Armenians, undoubtedly used and abused farm workers. Connors was of Armenian heritage and also spoke French fluently. Mannix encounters farm hands and an orange grower who is being run out of business.

Top cast with Mantee (who took his stage name from "Duke Mantee" in THE PETRIFIED FOREST). Linda Marsh makes a return appearance, frequently on cop shows. Jeanette Nolan plays Mrs. Carpenter, the farm family matriarch.

The scene with Joe handcuffed and running from the police (and dogs) in the orange fields had to have been inspired by FUGITIVE. Add the corrupt sheriff and his trigger happy deputy. Henry Beckman played many no-account lawmen in westerns and crime shows.

Classic stuff. Filmed in the town of Piru, about 50 miles north of Los Angeles. Piru has been used for decades in films and tv because of its beautiful landscapes. Known for the famous Lizabeth Scott film noir DESERT FURY (1947). The church scene was filmed at the Piru Methodist Church.

SEASON 6 EPISODE 10 remastered color CBS/Paramount dvd box set.

1pkfloydmh

Has almost every cliché imaginable

In this one, Joe is hired by a crop duster to investigate the disappearance of two other crop dusters.

This is yet another episode set in a small town and it has all of the worn out and aggravating clichés that go along with it and have been seen many times before - the town is hiding some kind of secret and the sheriff is nasty and corrupt and arrests Joe on phony charges and then tries to run him out of town. If that wasn't bad enough, Joe gets clobbered over the head again and shot at but not hit, so two additional clichés for good measure. All of it is very tedious and unimpressive.

The Clint Carpenter character (played by Sean Garrison) has a bad attitude throughout and the idea that Joe would continue working for him with his attitude is not credible. Also not credible is the motive provided at the end for the disappearance of the two crop dusters.

The Sheriff Simkins character (played by Henry Beckman) is way over-the-top and is absolutely revolting.

This is a very depressing episode with very little action and clichés everywhere. It's easily the worst episode of the season so far.

8elmasianb

Mike Connor's Armenian Roots

Harvest of Death involves Armenians living in a farming community. Mike Connors himself is an Armenian born 1925 in the then mostly farming city of Fresno, California. Connors real name is Krekor Ohanian, and he grew up speaking both Armenian and English. The actors who play Armenians are not and would have had to learn their lines by sound. I suspect Connors also had much influence on the plot which involves poor Armenian farm hands suppressed by big farmers. Now, many of the big farms are controlled by Armenians, and they take advantage of farm laborers from Mexico.

Trivia
The crop duster plane (N56416) is a 1941 Boeing Stearman Model 75 (A75N1 s/n 75-914). It is still airworthy and flying in Northern California.

Quotes
Sheriff Simkins: Well, hello, Mannix.
Joe Mannix: Sheriff. Is this a raid?
Sheriff Simkins: No. But, uh, if it had been, I'd have come a little earlier and caught myself a fish.
Joe Mannix: Well, your timing could have been better.
Sheriff Simkins: [laughs] Well, sorry about that. But, uh, business goes on as usual, you know. At least, mine does.
Sheriff Simkins: [takes out a notepad from his coat pocket and reads what's written] Uh, Joe Mannix, private investigator, license number 13007. Crop dusting just a hobby with you, or, uh, is the detective business falling off?
Joe Mannix: Let me ask you a question, Sheriff. You run a check on every visitor to Carpenter?
Sheriff Simkins: Uh, just about. Clint, Sr. put me onto it. You know, he didn't like meddling strangers. So, I thought I'd give Clint, Jr. the same service. What about it, Mannix?
Joe Mannix: Well, I was, uh, hired by the Winters Crop Dusting Service to find those two missing pilots. Well, you said yourself you didn't get anyplace with it, so maybe it's time for an outsider.
Sheriff Simkins: Well, what I mean is we haven't been able to prove anything, but supposing I was to tell you that there is one party who'd be tickled silly to see Clint, Jr. lose his tail. Of course, proving that he's working at it is something else again.
Joe Mannix: Sam Maturian.
Sheriff Simkins: [chuckling] Boy, you sure do work fast, don't you?
Joe Mannix: Yeah, fast enough to know there are people around here who'd swear by him.
Sheriff Simkins: Fast enough to know that he figures he's the rightful owner of a good-sized chunk of the Carpenter spread? Huh? Yeah, that's right. All that acreage out there in orange trees. Now all he does is dig irrigation ditches around them.
Joe Mannix: Well, uh, that does change things a little.
Sheriff Simkins: It certainly does, doesn't it? Well, I'm, uh, willing to give you all the help I can, you know, but, uh, keep your head down. Oh, uh, by the way, that perfume...
Sheriff Simkins: [sniffs] ... it's kind of special. I wonder what Junior would think if he knew that his wife was visiting a man in his motel room at this hour of the night.